Characteristics of burn patients transported by ambulance to treatment facilities in Akita Prefecture, Japan

This study analyzes patient demographics and injury data of 342 patients transported by ambulance to emergency facilities in Akita Prefecture, Japan, between 1996 and 2000. Significant findings include the following. Fire was the most frequent cause of burn injury, and winter was the season with the highest incidence (40.6%) of cases. The suicide rate in Akita Prefecture is high, the percentage of burn patients due to suicide attempts was 7.9%. The mean time from burn injury to hospital arrival was significantly longer for patients who later died (44.6±35.3 min) than for those survived (33.0±22.5 min). Severely burned patients were not always transported directly to a core emergency facility and an unacceptable number (5.8%) of patients died at tertiary hospitals. This relatively high death rate is attributable to the limited facilities for treating burns in the tertiary hospitals and the long distance to core facilities, which sometimes precludes transport system for the prefecture will reduce transport time to the regional trauma center and thus enable more patients to undergo specialized treatment at an earlier injury stage. Additionally, tertiary facilities should improve their level of burn care (e.g., creating a burn unit and skin bank).